To the New, Aspiring Player

[Aaron W.]

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This very nice post goes well with your other very nice post which has tons of excellent links buried in it that will take a long time to read through.

I really want to emphasize this paragraph (my empahses added):

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When you’re just starting, it doesn’t make sense for most players to be playing a ton of hands. If you’re not studying at least twice as much as you’re playing, you’re doing yourself a HUGE disservice. Read and reread the books everyone here talks about, post hands, discuss hands, do math, think about hands away from the table, etc. There are plenty of things that go on in a 100 hands or so, that will give you something to think about, post and learn from.

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It's especially solid advice in light of this recent post (which was a little confusing - most people answered the question in the subject and not the question asked in the poll).

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Bump plus some instructions. A lot of the links don't work right now (probably due to the recent upgrade). You can still find the links by changing the "forumserver" to "archiveserver" in the URL.

[Redd]

I plan to quote this page often when somebody on a hot streak, thinking they're god's gift to poker, starts posting about how his radical style that amazingly nobody's found yet is the most profitable.

[sarsen]

This post needs to go into the micro limit FAQ. Need to go into the beginners forum too. Thanks QTIP.

I'd add: No one wants to hear a bad beat story. If you play long enough they happend all the time. Don't abuse another player because he got lucky.

[PokerPadawan]

Excellent post. Insta-favorite.

I'm current in the level where I know enough to know how many mistakes I'm making all the time. It's very depressing, except that I also see how many mistakes my opponents are making. I'm hoping that all this 2+2 wisdom will become second nature someday, and I'll no longer wuss out on value bets all the time. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

In any case, I really respect what the pros do every day.

[inspir3d]

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When I started, I was reading about 3 hours a day, averaging about 30 posts a day and playing about 2 hours a day. It was about 3 months of this before I felt like I was a small winning player in the party poker 2/4 game, and I’m not a slow learner.

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how do you average 30 posts a day??? i've barely gotten my first 30 and people are already telling me to post less...

[QTip]

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When I started, I was reading about 3 hours a day, averaging about 30 posts a day and playing about 2 hours a day. It was about 3 months of this before I felt like I was a small winning player in the party poker 2/4 game, and I’m not a slow learner.

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how do you average 30 posts a day??? i've barely gotten my first 30 and people are already telling me to post less...

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I should have been more clear. When I said "posts", I meant mostly replying to posts and to other's responses. And, of course, the number of posts wasn't the important thing, but rather the nature of the posts. In saying this, I have no idea of what your 30 posts consist or why people would tell you to post less....just clarifying.

[QTip]

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Bump plus some instructions. A lot of the links don't work right now (probably due to the recent upgrade). You can still find the links by changing the "forumserver" to "archiveserver" in the URL.

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Thanks Aaron. I wonder if that is a permanent change. If so, that sucks.

[MrWookie]

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When I started, I was reading about 3 hours a day, averaging about 30 posts a day and playing about 2 hours a day. It was about 3 months of this before I felt like I was a small winning player in the party poker 2/4 game, and I’m not a slow learner.

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how do you average 30 posts a day??? i've barely gotten my first 30 and people are already telling me to post less...

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I wasn't telling you to post less. I was telling you to REPLY more, rather than starting new threads.

[Scuba Chuck]

When I first started learning golf, I used to think, "If I can just hit the ball farther, the game would be so much easier." "If I could just hit the ball straighter, the game would be easier." As the years went by, my length, and accuracy improved. And not once have I thought the game of golf has become easier. In fact, I sometimes feel I have moved backwards. Stupid game. A great example is how long it took me to realize that I would be better served by hitting the ball to ~ 135 yards from the green, rather than just trying to get as close as possible. My most accurate clubs were the 7 & 8 iron. Whenever I get within 90 yards, I was lost. But hey, it was a helluva drive!

The humorous part of the game of golf, for me, is that I got so good at playing out of the rough, that by the time that I was more consistently in the fairway, my game worsened. For me, I was a solid ball striker out of the rough. I was unusually accurate, and always seemed to know how to make something out of little. Anyhow, as I began to play more out of the fairway, I was out of my element, and my golf game went backwards. So then there was this stupid short game I now needed to learn. And have I told you yet what a bitch this game is? By far this is the most, or second most difficult part of the game. Hazards, deep grass, partial swings, clubs with different lofts. So many obstacles, so many tools. I sometimes wished I was still back 150 yards away in the rough, cos I knew how to play that game.

Anyhow, to me, poker is a lot like golf. The more I play, the more difficult the game has become. The drive reminds me a lot of preflop decisions. The short game is like playing postflop, and putting is like playing the river.

I was chatting with someone today, and we were talking about how many Sit-N-Gos we've played this year. I estimate I've played about 10,000. If you figure the average SNG is 70-100 hands, that's ....well a boatload of hands. And I still feel I have a lot to learn.

So, to the new, aspiring player ...hack away!

Scuba
Who has since quit golf, and who has appreciated the time spent with Qtip so far.

[Weatherhead03]

That was one of the best analogies about the game of poker I have seen. Golf and poker are the two toughest games I have come across, maybe why I love both of them.